Embarrassed Guy Log

Training Over 35 Lifter
401

OK, yesterday was DL day. This cycle I’m doing DLs from a deficit:

various warmup weights, which I can’t remember, then 233x5, 268x5, 308x7

I wasn’t sure what weights to use, so I initially worked off a max of 350, but things felt good, so I bumped it up 10 to 360, which I think is just about right. These felt great. Followed them up with 4 sets of 220x8-10, which didn’t feel so good, and left me woozy after each set (oh wait, that’s a good feeling, right?). The gym was so hot, I was sweating like a pig, and even after a cold shower I still had sweat pouring off me for the next half hour, which really endeared me to the people at work.

Oh, also supersetted some hanging leg raises in there for good measure.

402

It great that you have a good gym in Japan to hit when you are over there!

lookin’ good all around, sfp

403

Thanks, sol. The gym is actually Gold’s, which I signed up for in the US since I’ll be traveling a lot. It’s worked out OK so far.

Today:

Bench: bar x10, 95x5, 135x5, 145x3 (wu), 155x5, 180x5, 200x8

+2 over my last effort at that weight, and it felt great (kept my form and speed throughout), so I was very happy. In fact, I remember last time thinking that 200 felt heavy; not the case this time. Now I’ve just got to figure out what makes the difference!

Followed up with a superset of incline DB press and bench-supported DB rows. Sweat like a pig again (the weight room isn’t air conditioned, making it actually warmer than the outside), but I’m flying back to the US today, so I’m happy enough to not care.

A great weekend to all!

404

[quote]sfp wrote:
Thanks, sol. The gym is actually Gold’s, which I signed up for in the US since I’ll be traveling a lot. It’s worked out OK so far.

Today:

Bench: bar x10, 95x5, 135x5, 145x3 (wu), 155x5, 180x5, 200x8

+2 over my last effort at that weight, and it felt great (kept my form and speed throughout), so I was very happy. In fact, I remember last time thinking that 200 felt heavy; not the case this time. Now I’ve just got to figure out what makes the difference!

Followed up with a superset of incline DB press and bench-supported DB rows. Sweat like a pig again (the weight room isn’t air conditioned, making it actually warmer than the outside), but I’m flying back to the US today, so I’m happy enough to not care.

A great weekend to all![/quote]

Safe travels and great benchin’!

405

What happened to our buddy sfp?

Did you ever make it back from Japan?

406

I’d been wondering that myself…

407

I heard he is Huge in Japan…
come back soon.
kmc

408

That was a long swim!

Actually, things have been pretty busy on my end. Another move, coming up to speed in a new job (and new industry). Haven’t had a whole lot of time to log things here, though I have been faithfully training. Last cycle was pretty good, too, on everything but bench.

That said, I’ll try to do better here.

409

Good to see that you are still with us and that things seem to be going well. We look forward to you rejoining us on a more regular basis!

410

I’m the embarrassed guy…

'fraid I wasn’t much help to you, but I’m glad you’re posting again.

411

Uhhhhh…anyone heard from sfp??

412

Wow…how long have I been asleep?

Actually, I’ve been here all along, just not posting. Sorry to be anti-social. At first I was too busy to post, then it was just plain laziness.

The good news for me is that I haven’t slacked off on training, even on the road, and all my lifts have improved a bit. I’ll try to do better on the posting in the future. Here’s what went down today:

DL:
warmup: 135x5, 225x4, 275x3
working sets: 320x3, 365x3, 410x6

One more rep would have been nice, but I’ll take it. Finished up with the following:

Superset 1
GHR: 10, 8, 7
Dragon flag thingies: 5, 5, 4

Leg presses
4 plates x 10, 5 plates x 8

And finished off with a couple sets of DB pull-throughs.

Call me crazy, but lately after my working sets I’ve been veering from orthodox 531 and doing 3-4 assistance exercises, sometimes also going for lower reps/heavier weight on one (e.g. dips or DB press on bench day). But not so much for DL days. DLs by themselves are stimulation aplenty. I’ve also been carb cycling of late. At the beginning of last year, coming off a brief illness, I was at 190. Right now I’m 205-208, and while not all the difference is fat, I figured it would be good to get nice and toned for bikini season. Yesterday was low-carb day, and I was really worried about today’s session. After the carb fest that was my nutrient intake this morning, though, I was feeling no pain.

413

Wow is right! I thought you had gotten lost and couldn’t find your way back!

Glad to have you back and to see that you have been hard at it. Deads are looking good and strong.
And I think several of us are are veering from the norm on the assistance work. Just don’t tell mj.

414

Thanks for the welcome back, Strick. Looking at your logs, I see I have no hope of catching up to you. You’ve made amazing progress in a very short time. I’m attributing that to genetics so I feel better about myself. Hope you don’t mind.

415

Dude! I’m so mad at you!

Nice deads.

I’m so mad at you!

416

Thanks, DAC, I missed you too!

And speaking of progress, I continue to bow to your strongness.

417

[quote]sfp wrote:
Thanks for the welcome back, Strick. Looking at your logs, I see I have no hope of catching up to you. You’ve made amazing progress in a very short time. I’m attributing that to genetics so I feel better about myself. Hope you don’t mind.[/quote]

I sure hope you don’t catch me. 285 pounds might not suit your frame :slight_smile: Definitely good to have you back.

418

Last night was bench, per standard 531 protocol. An explanatory preface: the latter half of last year I was bummed about my lack of progress on the bench, and felt it was primarily psychological. To overcome this, I decided to set my max to 15-20 lbs above what it was previously, and did a 531 cycle with a 3 board press, then another cycle with a 2 board, 1 board, and then plain old bench.

Worked very well, and my reps actually increased between 2 board and 1 board. I also got rid of a sticking point I had about 3-4 inches above my chest, and increased my confidence with bigger (for me) weights. I am in the latter half of another of these meta-cycles, which will probably be my last for a while. Here’s how it went:

Warmup:
From pins: 225x3, 275x3, 315x3, 335x2
Bench: 135x5, 155x4, 175x3

Working sets: 195x3, 220x3, 250x3 (1bd)
Then: 225x3, 205x5

I should have gotten one more rep on the 250 (got 6 at 235 last week). One nice thing I’ve found about 531 is it improves my awareness a lot, by giving lots of points of comparison. This helps me recognize when I simply have a bad day vs. when a reset is in order. I’m glad to have gotten rid of the sticking point, but now I need to improve from the bottom. Moving on…

Superset of dips and bent-over bb rows:
Rows: 135x6, 195x5, 225x4, 245x3
Dips: bw x12, +25x8, +45x8x2 (all were bottom half only)

Then a few sets of pullups and db rows:
Pullups: bw x8, +25x5, +45x5x2
db rows: 80x6, 90x4, 60x12

Wrapped up with some vanity bb curls, by which time the gym was closing, so I called it a day.

419

Sounds like a good plan. And even better that it seems to be working.
Also, this is your 4th post. So I guess we have a trend and you are not going to disappear again :slight_smile:

Nice work.

420

No promises, Strick. Searching out a gym in Toronto right now, will probably be posting tomorrow night.